Elaine Jean Culture 11.06.2021 18:Nov PM EDT

Famous YouTuber MrBeast Shares His Thumbnail Strategy to Get Those YouTube Clicks: Here's How

Jimmy Donaldson, popularly known as MrBeast to his 70 million YouTube subscribers, is one of YouTube's most popular content creators.

Jimmy Donaldson as MrBeast

MrBeast has six YouTube channels and one of those channels contains 14 videos with over 100 million views.

The team behind MrBeast usually includes some form of stunt in their YouTube content, such as spending 50 hours in solitary confinement (garnered 155 million views), 1,000 trips through the same drive-thru (127 million views), or eating a $70,000 golden pizza (116 million views).

Furthermore, he continued, getting that level of popularity has almost as much to do with still images as it does with videos, alluding to the all-important YouTube thumbnail.

Studying data like click-through rate and view duration provided on YouTube's creator dashboard is frequently the key to long-term success.

Donaldson has made his data tracking methods public, and he recently spoke at VidSummit, a digital marketing conference for influencers, businesses, and agencies, on his YouTube strategy.

At VidSummit, Donaldson stated, "Obviously, no one can watch your movies unless they click on it. So, how do you boost the number of people who really watch your video?"

According to the popular content creator, the three factors that influence whether or not someone clicks on a YouTube video are the topic, title, and thumbnail.

How To Make YouTube Thumbnail

According to MrBeast via Business Insider, the thumbnail should appropriately depict the video's substance.

A video's watch time will likely increase if it delivers on what it promises in the title and image.

Every thumbnail usually has the recognizable Donaldson. He'll sometimes build a physical set to reproduce a scene from the video, or his team will utilize Photoshop to tell a tale around him.

By way of example, he added, his team excavated a hole in the earth and built a box for the thumbnail of the video in which he buried himself alive, which had over 100 million views in 90 days.

Donaldson is the focal point of the image, with a minimal background behind him, enhanced colors that jump, and it's clear from the photo what the video is about.

MrBeast said that the thumbnail sets the tone for the entire film, adding that his team will brighten the pictures; something simple, apparent, and vibrant.

With that, he'll change the thumbnail image if a video doesn't get the required amount of views within the first few minutes of being uploaded.

In addition, he stated that they usually make two to three variations of a thumbnail, "so that if a video doesn't perform well, we can swap it out."

MrBeast's YouTube Thumbnail

Another idea he gave was to take a snapshot of the YouTube homepage and use Photoshop to add the thumbnail to see how it would seem to a viewer.

According to Donaldson, it is important to test it out so you can see how big it is and whether you should make anything bigger because the majority of your views are likely to come from mobile, it's critical that you see exactly how the thumbnail will appear to viewers on mobile.

For MrBeast, the thumbnail determines whether or not someone will watch your video. It truly does make a difference for the channel.

In fact, it makes a tens of millions of views difference.